World News - Judge: Rising Numbers of New Orleans Defendants Don't Have Public Defenders to Help Them

The number of criminal suspects going without public defenders is rising despite a judge's threat to start letting people out of jail. Last month, Judge Arthur Hunter ordered 42 defendants freed but delayed implementation of his order until a hearing could held. "I'm up to an additional 40 people since March 26 who don't have lawyers, period," Hunter said Wednesday before that hearing. "It's not inadequate representation in these cases, it's no representation." Hunter has been battling what he sees as the Office of Indigent Defenders' inability to adequately represent the hundreds of poor defendants since Hurricane Katrina wrecked the New Orleans criminal justice system. ... http://abcnews.go.com

Three special forces servicemen who were being prosecuted for massacring a group of Chechen civilians in one of Russia's highest profile criminal trials have gone on the run days before proceedings were expected to draw to a close. The three men in the Ulman case - named after the officer who controlled the GRU (chief military intelligence directorate) unit - had been granted bail despite protests from the victims' families. Captain Eduard Ulman, Alexander Kalagansky and Vladimir Voyevodin previously admitted shooting six Chechens, including a pregnant woman, on a mountain road in southern Chechnya in January 2002, but claimed they were innocent because they were following orders. Their prosecution has been seen as a test case for attempts to punish war crimes in Chechnya, although critics have questioned why senior officers have not been prosecuted...http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,2060269,00.html

More than 100 journalists on Wednesday protested a police raid ordered by Afghanistan's attorney general on a private TV station that has fueled concern over growing government harassment of the media. Attorney General Abdul Jabar Sabit said he ordered police into the Kabul office of Tolo TV late Tuesday to ``summon'' reporter Hamed Haidary for reporting that Sabit had called for the hanging of a number of convicts. Sabit said he was misquoted by the reporter. Tolo - the biggest private TV network in Afghanistan - insisted that the remarks were Sabit's, and replayed parts of a video of Sabit making the comments several times during the night. More than 100 journalists gathered on Wednesday in front of Parliament to condemn the raid and call for the suspension of the attorney general. They chanted, ``Long live journalism! Long live freedom of speech!'' ...http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6567826,00.html

Australia and the United States have announced a plan to swap up to 200 asylum seekers every year. Migrants held by the US in Guantanamo Bay will be resettled in Australia, while Canberra will send people held in its offshore detention camps to the US. The move is aimed at deterring would-be refugees by preventing them from reaching their destination of choice. But critics say the plan could backfire on Canberra, as many refugees around the world are hoping to get to America. The first asylum seekers to be exchanged are likely to be 83 Sri Lankans and eight Burmese who are being held in Australia's off-shore detention centre on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru. If they qualify as genuine refugees, they could soon be resettled somewhere in the US. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6566619.stm

The United States and its NATO allies are making progress in Afghanistan but face a critical test of the alliance's credibility from an expected spring offensive from the Islamist insurgency, Dutch Ambassador to the United States Christiaan Mark Johan Kroner said in an interview yesterday. The U.S. and Dutch armies are among the few NATO countries carrying out the bulk of the military operations against resurgent Taliban and al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan's restive south and east. The 2,100-member Dutch force has taken command of the volatile southern sector from Canada, but several NATO powers have placed restrictions -- known as "caveats" -- on the deployment of their forces to Afghanistan's more dangerous regions. The war is a "critical test of NATO's credibility," Mr. Kroner said in a luncheon with editors and reporters at The Washington Times. "If NATO does not succeed there, it will be a disaster -- not just for Afghanistan and the region but for NATO itself," ...http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20070417-101212-4508r.htm

The White House said on Wednesday that President Bush still had “full confidence” in World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, who faces a storm of criticism for helping arrange a high-paying promotion for his girlfriend.“We still have full confidence, the president has full confidence in President Wolfowitz,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters.Wolfowitz, a key Iraq war architect who left the Pentagon in 2005 to become president of the World Bank, played a role in dictating the terms that his girlfriend, bank employee Shaha Riza, would be offered to take an outside assignment. The bank’s board is examining Wolfowitz’s role in helping to arrange the promotion and the bank’s staff association has called for his resignation....http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18175059/